How true is the news that "U.S. Department of Justice approved the sale of Silk Road Bitcoin"?

Jessy Golden Finance

On the morning of January 9, when the market was falling, all major currency media reported a bad news, that is, "The U.S. Department of Justice approved the sale of $6.5 billion of seized dark web Silk Road bitcoins. As soon as this news came out, Bitcoin fell below $94,000.

When it rains, it pours, and the circle wails constantly. However, after Golden Finance verified this news, it was found that the source of the news was not credible, and the reporter did not find any official news from the U.S. Department of Justice to be confirmed. Even if the news is true, according to the past procedures of the Department of Justice to sell confiscated bitcoins, the Department of Justice basically cannot sell these bitcoins in the short term, that is, before Trump takes office, and Trump has promised that the United States will not sell any bitcoins during his presidency.

In summary, the U.S. Department of Justice will not really sell coins at this stage, and it will not bring selling pressure to the market.

There is only one source of news

According to the sources of news reported by major cryptocurrency media, the sources of news they linked to are all news released by a personal blogger named X.

The main body of this account is a cryptocurrency news media, but the media needs to pay to browse its website, and the membership fee is not low.

Combining the above information, Golden Finance reporters believe that the credibility of the media is not high, and the short sentence released by its X account "The U.S. Department of Justice approved the sale of $6.5 billion of seized dark web Silk Road bitcoins. "Without indicating the specific source of the news, it cannot be confirmed." Even if the news is true, the Department of Justice cannot sell its bitcoins in the short term. Golden Finance checked and sorted out the previous process of the U.S. Department of Justice selling its confiscated bitcoins and found that even if the news is true, the Department of Justice basically could not sell its bitcoins before Trump took office. Bitcoin seized by the U.S. Department of Justice is generally auctioned by the U.S. Marshals Service, rather than directly sold on OTC or exchanges. This is similar to the auction of confiscated assets such as houses and collections by our judicial department, which is then turned over to the national treasury. Let's take the 2020 Marshals Service auction process as an example. At that time, the auction was about 4040. Bitcoin, which is involved in various federal criminal, civil and administrative cases.

At that time, the news of the auction of these bitcoins by the Marshals Service was released on February 3, 2020, requiring potential bidders to complete registration before February 12, and the auction was held on February 18.

According to the specific sales terms announced by the Marshals Service at the time, the winning bidder should be prepared to wire the purchase funds to the USMS on February 19, 2020, and the USMS No Bitcoin will be transferred until the buyer's purchase funds are confirmed to have been received.

That is, from the release of the news to the actual auction, the auctioneer actually got the Bitcoin, and then possibly sold it on the market, it took more than half a month.

At present, there are only 11 days before Trump takes office, and Golden Finance reporters have not found any recent news about the auction of confiscated Bitcoin on the official website of the Marshals Service.

It can be seen that before Trump takes office, at least the US Department of Justice will not actually sell the Silk Road Bitcoin it has confiscated.

In summary, the rumor this morning that "the US Department of Justice approved the sale of $6.5 billion in seized dark web Silk Road Bitcoins" that affected the market is most likely false news.